Seb Josse (BT) new Vendee Globe leader

by Vendee Globe media on 28 Nov 2008 For the first time in 14 days, the 2008-09 Vendée Globe has a new leader. At this afternoon’s 1500hrs (GMT) updates, Seb Josse on BT has taken pole position from long-time pace-setter Loïck Peyron.

But whilst place-changes among this leading group can sometime be misleading — it is after all measured from ‘distance to finish’, which doesn’t take account of the fact that the front pack are having to dive south rather than take the most direct route to the Cape — Josse is also further south and showing better boatspeed than Gitana Eighty to stretch out a lead of 15.3 miles. Over the past five hours Peyron’s average speed has been little more than five knots, and his 24-hour distance covered has dropped to under 200 miles for the first time in six days. His track shows a number of tacks, apparently the result of squalls as Peyron finds himself sailing under a black cloud — in every sense.
Peyron wrote today: 'This morning, I ended up stuck beneath a squall for three – four hours. There wasn’t a breath of air and I was manoeuvring in every direction to try to get out of it all. We’re hitting a buffer zone and as I was leading the way, I was the first to land in the shit! It’s no surprise though, I’d be preparing for it for several days. This isn’t the important thing: you mustn’t be distracted by the rankings and the changes in hierarchy as things really only get serious further down the track…'

Behind this duo the place changes are less clear-cut, Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), who was third this morning, is currently showing as fifth, but is still the next most southerly boat in this race to the 40s. That means Armel le Cléac’h (Brit Air) has moved up to third, and Vincent Rio (PRB) to fourth. But the leading seven boats are now packed within just 40 miles, and who is actually in front will be open to debate while we wait to see the effect of the high pressure system. Currently showing in eighth place, Mike Golding (Ecover, GBR) is to the west of this leading group, and has conceded a few miles to Yann Elies (Generali).

Still consistently quick, Marc Guillemot on Safran is just over 150 miles off the leader —having halved the distance of one week ago — and other boats are coming down with him; Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar, GBR) and Dominque Wavre (Temenos, SUI), who have reversed yesterday’s order with Thomspon now 10 miles ahead.

Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia continues to clock up the miles to the west, although Dee Caffari (Aviva, GBR) has been doing a good job of hanging onto his coat tails, showing the greatest mileage over the past 24 hours. Jonny Malbon (Artemis) has taken some distance out of fellow Brit Steve White (Toe in the Water), with just 27.5 miles now between them.

The fastest boat on the course is currently Bernard Stamm’s Cheminées Poujoulat (SUI), averaging over 13 knots in his pursuit of Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital).

In this morning’s radio broadcasts the chasing skippers were all hoping for the opportunity to make some gains and close up with the leading pack, but the real chances will come for whoever can exit the high pressure system in best shape. In the meantime it’s time to keep on top of any ongoing maintenance and perform some final checks before the plunge south — a trip up the rig is in order for many of them.

From this morning’s radio broadcasts:

10th - Brian Thompson, Bahrain Team Pindar (GBR): Now the wind’s more upwind – not quite as forecast, but pretty nice conditions, bit smoother than the past few days and it’s an opportunity to catch up on a few jobs on the boat and get ready for the Southern Ocean which is coming up fast!

There’s lots of little jobs and come the Southern Ocean there won’t be the opportunity to do them. Often something that’s insignificant in 20 knots of wind when it’s blowing 40 can sometimes escalate into a disaster.

The high pressure is definitely going to have to be negotiated, there’s no way round really. It’s probably something where the leaders will slow, and we’ll catch them, and then they’ll get away first and maybe there won’t be any overall change. But it’s possible there’ll be a chance to have a real catch up where they’re parked for longer. But if I can come out within a couple of hundred miles of them then that’ll be good going.

14th - Dee Caffari, Aviva (GBR): We’re still on a wet bumpy ride south. Last night was really squally, with lots of black clouds of up to 30 knots reaching, so it was a bit full-on and very uncomfortable. But now the wind’s eased a little to 15-18 knots to a more gentle ride.

The wind looks like it’s going to ease off, I just hope the sea state eases off at the same time or it’s going to be really uncomfortable. It’s going to be all about changing gears and trying to keep the speed on to allow us to close the gap on the front-runners, until they come out the other side and look really impressive. So it’s a short-lived thrill, but we’ll take it while we can!

22nd - Norbert Sedlacek, Nauticsport Kapsch (AUT): It’s been warm, I’m enjoying the fresh water. And for the rest of the time I’m trying to get things sorted in my office and trying to eat a lot of different things to get a little bit fatter! There is one seabird that has been flying with me the past two days, and sometimes we have a little conversation but he is shy, so we have no plans to have a dinner together yet!

19th - Rich Wilson, Great American III (USA): It’s Thanksgiving today, which is a big day in the US. For my family it was 18 years ago today that we capsized off Cape Horn in the 60ft trimaran, It was a terrible, terrible storm, and there was great uncertainty for a while on the part of those back home about what had happened and whether we were okay or not, so it’s a momentous day for my family.

It’s a useful reminder of how short our time here might be, and many things went our way that night. There were 20m seas and the boat was upside down for an hour and a half. It could have been a different outcome, so it’s a pretty healthy reminder that we should do what we can do when we’re here and do our best all the time.

Day 18, Josse wrests the lead
1500 HRS GMT. Rankings, (FRA, unless stated)
1- Seb Josse (BT) at 19770 miles to the finish
2- Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) + 15.3 miles to leader
3- Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) at + 20.3 miles
4- Vincent Riou (PRB) at + 26.7 miles to leader
5- Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) at + 30.2 miles to leader

Selected International
8- Mike Golding, GBR, (ECOVER 3) at + 57.4 miles
10- Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 222.4 miles
11- Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos 2) at + 234.4 miles
12- Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) at + 276.7 miles
14- Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 463 miles
16- Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 733.3 miles
17 - Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis) at + 826.9 miles
18- Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) at + 854.4 miles
19- Rich Wilson, USA, (Great America III) at + 921.7 miles
21- Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat) at + 1016.7 miles
22- Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) at + 1331.8 miles
23- Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) at + 1521.8 miles